Senior Year Research Projects

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The Senior Year Experience (SYE) is a required part of the programs in mathematics and computer science. This project can be either an independent research project with a faculty member or a specially designed senior seminar.  Titles of many of the recent SYE research projects in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics appear below. 

Additional information about the Senior Year Experience is available for current students.

Recent SYE Research Projects in Mathematics



Class of 2022

  • Eduardo Puerta, Dr. Daniel Look – “Plana Graph Representation of a Mathematical Knot: A Survey of the Knot Determinant”
  • Stefan M. Dragicevic, Advisor Dr. Robin Lock – “Random Walks on Lattice Graphs”

Class of 2021

  • Callum Cusinato, Advisor Dr. Maegan Bos – “Financial Mathematics”
  • Brooks Daley, Advisor Dr. Maegan Bos -“Expedition Sailing Software: How Geometry is used for Optimal Routing”
  • Jack Gardner, Advisor Dr. Maegan Bos -“Mathematical Explanation of Celestial Navigation”
  • Miki Kamei, Advisor Dr. Maegan Bos -“Knot Theory”
  • Dylan McDonough, Advisor Dr. Maegan Bos -“The Importance of Geometry in Video Games”
  • Yu Wang, Advisor Dr. Maegan Bos -“Revisiting Euclidean Geometry”
  • Cam White, Advisor Dr. Maegan Bos -“The Sri Yantra”
  • Skyler Ratcliffe, Advisor Dr. Dan Look - "The Dynamics of Circle Inversion"



Class of 2020

  • Nate Murphy, Advisor Dr. Danny Cryster – “Fermat’s Last Theorm”
  • Guangkai Liu, Advisor Dr. Jim DeFranza – “Fourier Series”
  • Maimatili Ruze, Advisor Dr. Natasha Komarov – “An Application of Markov Chain Monte Carlo to Predicting Storms”
  • Kira Murphy, Advisor Dr. Natasha Komarov – “Blocker: A Variation of Cops and Robbers on Graphs”
  • Clare Jenkins, Advisor Dr. Natasha Komarov – “Bounding the Capture Time of Cops and Robbers on Outerplanar Graphs”

Class of 2019

  • David Bonny, Advisor Dr. Duncan Melville - The Axiom of Completeness and the Set of Real Numbers
  • Morgan Doyle, Advisor Dr. Duncan Melville - Long Term Capital Management (LTCM) and Predicting Randomness
  • Emily Casey-Wagemaker, Advisor Dr. Dan Look – Deconstructing discipline: A mixed methods analysis of disciplinary policies in New York State’s Capital District
  • Seongwon (Ryan) Im, Advisor Dr. Danny Cryster - Kolmogorov’s Existence Theorem for Stochastic Processes
  • Xizhao (Amber) Liu, Advisor Dr. Dan Look – Robinson or Doyle? Authorship Attribution and “The Hounds of The Baskervilles”
  • Zeyu Lu, Advisor Dr. Dan Look – Knot Polynomials and Graph Theory

Class of 2018

  • Andrea Mossey, Advisor Dr. Dan Look - Graph Theory and Infectious Diseases
  • Aijia Wu, Advisor Dr. Duncan Melville - Optimization in Iron and Steel Industry
  • Yue Yang, Advisor Dr. Duncan Melville - Introduction of Half-Integers in Standard Young Tableaux: Exploring Properties of Standard Young Tableaux

Class of 2017

  • Erin Higgins -  Advisor Dr. Duncan Melville - Euler’s Method
  • Allison Macri - Advisor Dr. Dan Look - Fractals, Forgeries, and Forensics: Using Fractal Analysis to Identify Forged Handwriting
  • Avery Pecci -  Advisor Dr. Duncan Melville - Development of Navigation Instruments
  • Malakia Takane -  Advisor Dr. Natasha Komarov - Portfolio Utility Maximization in the Multiperiod Binomial Model
  • Yufan Tian and Jingming Tian -  Advisor Dr. Duncan Melville - Solving Cubics: Cardano’s Method and Galois Theory

Class of 2016

  • Hannah Durant - Graph Theory and Epidemiology: Using network models to represent and analyze the spread of infectious diseases
  • Sean Godard - Seeking the Foundations of Artificial Neural Networks for Image Recognition
  • Ruoshi Li - Volatilities across Sectors in U.S Stock Market
  • Xiaoying Claire Lu - Graphical Realization of Sequences With Uniqure K-Tuples
  • Ross McMullen The Art of Magic Squares
  • Skyler Ng - Securing Common Software Vulnerabilities
  • Devlin Rutherford - Fractal Geometry and its Applications to Volcanology
  • Christian Yarrows - St. Lawrence University Faculty Elections: A Web-Based Software Solution

Class of 2015

  • DiStefano, David • An Application-Based Understanding of Catalan Numbers
  • Fantoni, Elise  Comprehensive Analysis of Notre-Dame of Paris and Salisbury Cathedrals
  • Joseph, Mitchell • Erdos-Faber-Lovasz Conjecture
  • Ross, Abigail  • A Multi-Dimensional Exploration of the Catalan Numbers
  • Swayze, Adam The Universal Method for the Summation of Series: Further Developed. By Leonhard Euler.  Translation and Commentary
  • Shenton, Nathaniel • The Double Pendulum: A Case Study in Chaos Theory
  • Yang, Yunsi • Forecast of Impact of the Falling Oil Price on Oil Companies and Major Airlines

Class of 2014

  • Balderston, John • Foxes, Hipsters, and the Internet Meme:  A Comprehensive Model of Today's First-World Social Epidemic
  • Clemens, Laura • Comparison of E coli Genomes:  An Introduction to Comparative Genomics
  • Gladwin, Alex • “[Who?] – can – write – no – more”?:  Stylometry, Authorship, and “The Loved Dead”
  • Holby, John • Variations on the Euclidean Steiner Tree Problem: Less Road Traveled
  • Lehman, Tom •   Allometric Scaling Theory and a Test of Area-Preserving Branching in Trees
  • Montgomery, Robert • Kidney Paired Donation:  Optimal and Equitable Matchings in Bipartite Graphs
  • Prassas, Vasileios • Can We Predict Currency Crises? An Early Warning System Approach
  • Rutherford, Devlin • Fractal Geometry and its Applications to Volcanology
  • Walsh, Evan • The Performance of Momentum Investing:  Consequences for Market Efficiency, or Not

Class of 2013

  • Patrick Curry • Probability Of Making Street Networks One-way
  • Roelof Groenewald • Next Generation Matrices for Epidemic Models
  • Lucy Mellor • A Chromatic Duel on Simple Graphs
  • Luke Reed • Compartmental Models:An Epidemiological Application of Ordinary Differential Equations

Class of 2012

  • Newton, Kristen • Graphical Degree Sequences

Recent SYE Research Projects in Statistics



Class of 2022

  • Emil Zetterqvist,  Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - “A Shiny app for adjusted NHL save percentage”
  • Claire Dudley, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - “Estimating who won the NHL trade deadline using betting odds”
  • Maddox Ormiston, Advisor Dr. Robin Lock – "A Shiny App to Map NY County-Level Maternity Data and Investigate Relationships with Census Demographics"
  • Brenden Bready,  Advisor Robin Lock – "BIFA: Bready’s International Football App"
  • AJ Dykstra, Advisor Robin Lock – "Supporting R-Based Time Series Instruction"
  • Clara Mugnai, Advisor Matthew Higham "Equine Turnout at St. Lawrence University"
  • Liam Reiner, Advisor Matthew Higham “A Shiny App for Beginner Stock Portfolio Analysis”
  • Xiao Luo, Advisor Robin Lock “A Shiny App for Technical Analysis of Equities”

Class of 2021

  • Yu Song, Advisor Dr. Robin Lock  - “ Predicting Covid-19 Data with a Shiny App”
  • Hongxi E, Advisor Dr. Robin Lock - “A Shiny App for Finding the First Cut Value in a Regression Tree”
  • Siyuan (Tom) Zhang, Advisors Choong Soo-Lee and Ivan Ramler -  “Using Logistic Lasso Regression and Ego Networks to Model Synergy in Clash Royale”
  • Darren Ricalton, Advisor Michael Schuckers -  “Classification of NFL Passing Defense using Maching Learning”
  • Josh Marvald, Advisor Dr. Matt Higham - "Analyzing the Importance of the Serve in Professional Tennis”
  • Mitsuaki Maruta, Advisor Dr. Matt Higham - “Spatial Analysis of Ecological Field Surveys using Simulation”

Class of 2020

  • Margar Harutyunan, Advisor Dr. Robin Lock - “Opioid Epidemic Atlas Project”
  • Brandan Santillo, Advisor Dr. Robin Lock - “Scraping and Ranking D3 Football Teams”
  • Shuyu Qiao, Advisor Dr. Robin Lock - “Using MCMC and Graph Theory to Assess Diversity of Birds Species”
  • Abigail Collins, Advisor Dr. Jessica Chapman – “An investigation of Cluster Analysis in Dendrochronology and Dendroprovencing Driftwood”
  • Laura Edson, Advisor Dr. Jessica Chapman – “Modeling the Odds that You Marry a Fellow SLU Alum”
  • Therese Lupariello, Advisor Dr. Jessica Chapman – “Simulating the Alaskan Driftwood Phenomenon”
  • Allison Reiner, Advisor Dr. Jessica Chapman – “COVID-19 Pandemic: Global & National Responses”
  • Taylor Armijo, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - “An extension of the Kolmogorov Smirnov test”
  • Amanda Butterfield, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - “An analysis of the NHL Draft and Central Scouting Service Rankings”
  • Gabrielle Collins, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - “An evaluation of the Design Weighted Regression Adjusted Plus-Minus Ratings”
  • Jacqueline Garso, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - “Testing the distribution of two point processes”

Class of 2019

  • Taylor Digilio, Advisor Dr. Robin Lock - Shiny App for Accessing and Visualizing MLB Pitch Data
  • Alexis Joy, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - Some Examples of Data Visualization
  • Brian Silfer, Advisor Dr. Jessica Chapman - The Stats of Music: A Look at both Film and Spotify Data
  • Sarah Strong, Advisor Dr. Ivan Ramler – Systematic Gender Bias in League of Legends
  • Emily Viehl, Advisor Dr. Ivan Ramler– Creating a Content Based Recommendation System Using Sentiment Analysis, Stylometry, and Topic Modeling
  • Shyanne White, Advisor Dr. Jessica Chapman - The Thriving Student
  • Allie Withee, Advisor Dr. Robin Lock - A Shiny App for Visualizing 100 Years of Adirondack River Data
  • Sarah Campbell, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - The Elements of Statistical Narratives
  • Grace Harrison, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - Is NHL Hockey Additive or Multiplicative
  • Seongwon Im, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - Design-weighted Regression Adjusted Plus-Minus

Class of 2018

  • Ryan Lough and Joseph Sullivan, Advisor Dr. Jessica Chapman - Textbooks to Playbooks: A Model to Predict what it Means to have a “Successful” Career as a Professional Hockey Player
  • Meg Musser, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - Evaluation of the measuRing R package
  • Beau Yaremko, Advisor Dr. Ivan Ramler – Applying Tree-based Models to Find Successful Team Compositions in Heroes of the Storm
  • Xiaobing Wang, Advisor Dr. Robin Lock - Comparing Randomization Methods for Difference in Means Using Simulations in R
  • Yue Yang, Advisor Dr. Robin Lock - A Study on the GRACH Model: When Variance is Not Constant
  • Gordon White, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - A graphical interface for an NHL player trajectory system
  • Max Smith, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - An evaluation of the field goal kicking performance in NCAA FBS football
  • Jeremy Sylvain, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - Injury Prone or Unlucky: Modelling Injuries in the NHL

Class of 2017

  • Elsa Fecke, Advisor Dr. Robin Lock - Who’s in the Money? Using a Random Forest to Predict Horse Performance in a Race
  • Samantha Ormsby, Advisor Dr. Ivan Ramler – Applying Sentiment Analysis to the Harry Potter Series
  • Josey Wang, Advisor Dr. Robin Lock - Statistical Methods for Stock Picking and Portfolio Construction
  • Eric Sweetman, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - ECAC Recruits: Data Analysis to Improve Recruiting
  • Shauna Bulger, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - Assessing the Knowledge and Perceptions of Climate Change in North Country Residents using Principle Components Analysis and Logistic Regression Modeling
  • John Tank, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - An analysis of game by game data for hockey players in the AHL and the CHL (WHL, OHL, QMJHL)
  • Taylor Pellerin, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - An R package for play by play data from NCAA FBS Football Games
  • Ketura Mason, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - Analysis of Pool Effects for some events at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games

     

Class of 2015

  • Bradley, Colleen • Studying the Effects of Sleep on Mental Health Using Mixed Effects Modeling
  • Driscoll, Danny • Identifying Different Clusters of NHL Goalies
  • Lusting, Brandon • Head-­‐to-­‐Head Comparison Models
  • Street, Jennifer • Adjusting Grade Point Averages for Course Difficulty

Class of 2014

  • Abramski, Katie • Improving the Statistical Method for Classifying Geomagnetic Storms
  • Christensen, Kathryn • Understanding Uncertainty in Predicting the Lifetime of Plutonium Fuel Cells 
  • Felix, Zachary  • Pitch Classification Using Major League Baseball’s Pitchf/x Data
  • Legacy, Chelsey •  An Interactive Program for Modeling Autocorrelation Structures Using Sums of Rational Functions
  • Mulcahey, Dan • Identifying Similarly Performing Mutual Funds Using Cluster Analysis
  • Peterson, Addie • Simulation Methods for Survival Models with Applications to Lifetimes of C. elegans
  • Petzing, Dean • Analysis Of Play Selection in College Football

Class of 2013

  • Kerrin Ehrensbeck • Using Bayesian Statistics to Model the Plutonium Management Models for the Los Alamos National

Class of 2012

  • About Zike, Nassir • A Bayesian Approach for Assessing the Performance of a Biometric Authentication Device
  • Curro, James • Total Hockey Rating (THOR): A comprehensive statistical rating of National Hockey League Stakers based on all on-ice events
  • Kearney, Emma • The Future of Driftwood as a Subsistence Resource in Shaktoolik and Savoonga, Alaska: A Statistical Analysis of a Translocal Phenomenon
  • Manning, Maryn • Is Your Country Better Than the Rest? : Using Bayesian Statistics to Model the Top 100 Ranked Countries and Explore the Issue of Multicollinearity
  • Pasquali, Thomas • An Analysis of NHL Face-Offs

Recent SYE Research Projects in Computer Science

Class of 2022

  • Kevin Caravelli, Advisor Dr. Ed Harcourt  "Binary Analysis and CyberSecurity"
  • Olivia Omar, Advisor Dr. Ed Harcourt  " A Python Implementation of Elliptic Curve Cryptography for the Curious Computer Scientist"
  • Kimberly Merchant, Advisor Dr. Ed Harcourt - "Cyber Warfare in 2022: How your misclick can turn out the lights in Ukraine"
  • Eduardo Puerta, Advisor Dr. Ed Harcourt – "Elliptic Curves: A Smart Attack on Anomalous Curves"
  • James White, Advisor Dr. Ed Harcourt – "SQLI Vulnerability Exploitation On Database Restore"

  • Siyuan Zhang – Advisor's Ivan Ramler and Dr. Choong-Soo Lee -  “Using Logistic Lasso Regression and Ego Networks to Model Synergy in Clash Royale”

Class of 2021

  • Ben Kelty, Advisor Dr. Ed Harcourt – “An Investigation in to Physics Simulation with vPython"
  • Corinna Pilcher – Advisor  Dr. Lisa Torrey - “Using Convolutional Neural Networks to Reduce Data Analysis Limitations in Wildlife”
  • Peixuan Cai – Advisor  Dr. Lisa Torrey “Exploring Object Detection in Atari Games”

Class of 2020

  • Remi LeBlanc, Advisor Dr. Choong-Soo Lee – “Visualizing Weather/Climate and Their Impact on Economy/Society”
  • Joshua Epstein, Advisor Dr. Choong-Soo Lee – “Game Engine Design and Implementation"
  • Travonte Wheeler, Advisor Dr. Choong-Soo Lee – “Game Engine Design and Implementation"
  • Isaac Brinkman, Advisor Dr. Choong-Soo Lee – “Physics Engine Re-Imagined in Unity”
  • Moemedi Rakhudu, Advisor Dr. Choong-Soo Lee -  “MIAI: Music Image Artificial Intelligence”
  • Xuanming Cui, Advisor Dr. Lisa Torrey – “Sentiment Analysis and Stock Price”
  • Xin Tao, Advisor Dr. Lisa Torrey – “Exploration on Reinforcement Learning”
  • Corinna Pilcher, Advisor Dr. Lisa Torrey – “Classifying Camera Trap Images”
  • Peixuan Cai, Advisor Dr. Lisa Torrey – “Exploring Object Detection in Atari Games”
  • Mairead Drake, Advisors Dr. Dan Look & Dr. Ed Harcourt - “The story so far”: Writing Styles, Authorship, and Naive Bayes.
  • Yanru Chen, Advisor Dr. Ed Harcourt – “Detecting Fake Fingerprints with Deep Learning”
  • Dakota Golde, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - “Program for extracting play and roster data from junior hockey leagues“

Class of 2019

  • Yuexin Li, Advisor Dr. Lisa Torrey - Improving Multi-Column Text Extraction
  • Sai Wei, Advisor Dr. Choong-Soo Lee – Intelligent Assistant with Natural Language Understanding for Wechat

Class of 2018

  • Evan Page, Advisor Dr. Choong-Soo Lee – Developing a Mobile Application Controlled LELight System Using Raspberry Pi
  • Nevaan Perera, Advisor Dr. Choong-Soo Lee – Implementing a Service Request and Response Platfrom using Node.js
  • Gordon White, Advisor Dr. Lisa Torrey - A Web App for Visualization of Hockey Statistics

Class of 2017

  • Shauna Bulger, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - Assessing the Knowledge and Perceptions of Climate Change in North Country Residents using Principle Components Analysis and Logistic Regression Modeling
  • Max Smith, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - An evaluation of the field goal kicking performance in NCAA FBS football
  • Eric Sweetman, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - ECAC Recruits: Data Analysis to Improve Recruiting
  • Jeremy Sylvain, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - Injury Prone or Unlucky: Modelling Injuries in the NHL
  • Gordon White, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - A graphical interface for an NHL player trajectory system
  • John Tank, Advisor Dr. Michael Schuckers - An analysis of game by game data for hockey players in the AHL and the CHL (WHL, OHL, QMJHL)

Class of 2015

  • Mineva, Vela Dimitrova • Refactoring the ReectionApp Java Applet

Class of 2014

  • Pasipanodya, Tafadzwa • A Survey of Extractive Multi-Document Text Summarization Algorithms
  • Timerman, Spencer • Reward Shaping for Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

Class of 2013

  • Ryan Godard • Question Answering on the Web
  • Shelley Kandola • A Survey of Cryptographic Algorithms